


embrace

by gymthree



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, One Shot, POV Alternating, this is a birthday present to a friend of mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 04:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9218234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gymthree/pseuds/gymthree
Summary: “Shiro?”“Yeah?”“If I told you that my safest place is right here, in your embrace, would you believe me?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a present to a friend of mine. Happy birthday, Cronos. I love you a lot <3

_‘Shiro? Are you up?’_

Keith poked his tongue into his cheek and tried, once again, to steady his breathing. Once again, he failed.

_‘Yeah, what happened?’_

_‘Can you come over?’_ _  
_ A warm, large teardrop fell and spread through the phone screen, and a sob escaped Keith’s lips. Taking in short, desperate breaths, he threw the phone to the side and hid his face in his hands, fingers tangling in his bangs. He heard the chime, and looked to the side.

_‘I’m on my way.’_

  
  


Shiro had the keys, thankfully. There was no reason for him not to, obviously - they were way past that point. And, unfortunately, Keith needed him there in the middle of the night way too often.

Shiro just wanted to protect Keith. He just wanted to protect him from the world, make sure he was happy and safe, make sure he was healthy, make sure he really was alright. Make sure he never forgot how much he loved him - he did, helplessly, insanely, recklessly.

One of the worst parts of having gone through a difficult life is, after you’ve been through it all, it still affects you. The echoes of it. Nightmares. Memories. Mental issues that become so engraved in your brain that they simply can’t be healed. Life isn’t perfect for anyone, but some have it harder than others. And all of that became clear to Shiro when he met Keith, and fell in love with him.

The first time he actually saw Keith crying was still early on their relationship, maybe a couple months in. He had been in the kitchen, making hot cocoa, so he left Keith alone for five minutes or so. When he went back to his room, though, with the mugs in his hands and a slight smile in his face, he found the boy sitting in his bed, head rested on the wall behind him, sobs shaking his whole body and tears slowly streaming down his cheeks.

Settling the mugs on a shelf and hurrying to the bed were events Shiro knew happened, he just couldn't really remember doing so. He just went to help Keith so fast, he got rid of anything that could be slowing him down.

He'd kneeled in front of the boy and wiped a trail of tears away, making Keith shiver and shake his head, replying to nothing.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Shiro, I--”

“Don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for,” Shiro frowned, cupping Keith's face with his hands and looking deep into his dark blue, almost purply eyes. The cliché question of _how can someone look so beautiful when they're crying?_ came to his mind, but he shook it off and brushed his thumbs lightly across the younger man’s cheeks. “Do you want to talk about this? Can you tell me if something happened?”

Weeks later, Keith had told him no one had ever been that nice and comprehensive to him.

“It's just-- It's-- I'm sorry. It's nothing, it doesn't matter, I'm just being foolish…”

“If it bothers you, if it makes you cry, it's not foolish.” Shiro's voice was serious and his gaze was too caring and intense for Keith to even dare to look away. “You can say it, if you want to. I'm not going to force you to do anything. Just don't say it's foolish, okay? Your emotions aren't foolish. Ever. Okay?”

“Okay,” Keith swallowed, and finally shifted his gaze to look down, at anything else but Shiro's catching, rainy-day eyes. “Nothing happened. I just… started crying.”

“Do you feel sad? Are you okay?”

Keith smiled, a sad little smile Shiro wanted away from the soft expression in his pretty face.

“Can I tell you a secret, Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“I don't think I've been okay for quite a while.”

Thinking back on it, Shiro was quite sure that was the moment he'd decided that he would do what it took to make Keith happy and okay again.

That night, they just ended up watching a movie in the living room. Their beverages had chilled down, so they had to redo them - warmed up hot cocoa is not nearly as good as fresh, that's something they agreed on. They got a blanket and sat on the sofa, not far away from each other but not too close either - boundaries and all. In the end, though, Keith had his sleeping head in Shiro's lap, and the older man played with messy locks of his hair. He looked so peaceful, sleeping like that; if he could, Shiro would have frozen that moment in time, or looped it so that it could last forever.

As they got closer in their more than one year of dating, those moments were there more often than not, and Keith seemed to be getting happier with time. Nightmares and sudden floods of memories were still there, but Shiro was also there to hold Keith through it, and to remind him that things were going to be okay, and that he was going to be there no matter what.

As he parked quickly on the street, in front of Keith's apartment building, he could only wish things weren't too bad. He rushed out of the car and through the front door, thoughts stuck on the eighth floor and the boy who lived there.

  
  


Even through the tears and muffled sobs, Keith could hear the familiar sound of Shiro fidgeting to find the key in his way too full keychain - owning more charms than keys wasn't a good idea, and his boyfriend was proof -, and that already calmed his heart down a little.

It was all audible; the flat door slamming open, Shiro's hurried footsteps through the corridor, his huffing as he stopped by the doorway and checked to see how Keith was doing. As a response, he flashed a shaky smile and wiped away tears as he chuckled, pouting again and burying his face into his already drooly pillow.

“Can we just cuddle?,” Keith asked as Shiro got closer, and he felt it in the air when Shiro suddenly stopped walking.

“Huh?”

“I don't want to talk about it. I called you here for a reason… Can we just cuddle right now? Please?”

“Okay. Okay, okay, we can do that,” Shiro whispered, and pulled Keith’s pillow away very lightly. A bit reluctant in the beginning, and not quite wanting Shiro to see his tear-stained red face, it took a few pulls for him to let it be taken away. The sweet look on Shiro’s face didn’t change when he saw Keith, though. He just raised his hands and dried a tear with his knuckle, setting the pillow beside him on the mattress. His smile softened and he took hold of Keith’s hands in his own, looking down at their intertwining fingers and then up at his lover’s face. “We can do that.”

Leading him for them to lie down, Shiro shifted on the bed until he was beside Keith, lying on his side. Keith turned to his side too, his back facing Shiro, and raised his arms slightly when his boyfriend embraced him, nuzzling his face into the locks of hair covering his nape. Keith couldn’t help but chuckle a breathy laugh, and let a small smile take over his lips. The tears had stopped.

He felt safe there, he felt like he belonged there, in Shiro’s arms. They fit perfectly into each other, as if they were meant to be. He didn’t have to worry about anything, when he could feel the same old steady breathing brush against his neck, the good old calloused hands holding him tight, and their legs tangled around each other almost neatly. He could just be, and sometimes, time to _be_ was all that he had missing.

They stayed like that for a long time, in silence. Keith chewed on his bottom lip furiously, wanting to say something but not sure if Shiro had fallen asleep or not.

“Shiro?” His voice was as quiet as it could be, and full of hesitation.

“Yeah?”

The answer came raspy, Shiro’s voice low and rough. Keith bit his lower lip and sighed, fluttering his eyes shut, breathing in and opening them again.

“Thank you. For coming here so late, and… And everything.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I was up anyway, and you needed me. Why wouldn’t I come, baby?”

Keith held his breath in and closed his eyes, forcing the tears down his throat. It wasn’t fair, to be treated like this. He didn’t deserve this, he’d never done anything so good that he’d deserve Shiro. He was cold and rude, he was aggressive and hateful, building barriers upon barriers of cold stone to protect his weak self. There weren’t good things in him, despite what others could think. Keith was nothing but an incredibly huge pile of disappointment and worthlessness. And he had Shiro, which could be the worst part of it all, because Shiro was good, kind, strong, smart, goodlooking, and whatever other good adjectives exist. Especially, _too good for Keith._

And he just wanted to cry, because it was unfair! There was probably something out there who was as good as Shiro, an amazing person loved by all - just like Shiro -, and he was sure that, if his boyfriend was dating _that_ person instead, they’d be admired and even more appreciated by everyone. That wasn’t a thing for the two of them. Keith loved Shiro, so much, so much, but he knew that Shiro could never… He could never…

“I’m sorry,” he choked out, stuttering sobs flooding out of his throat uncontrollably, and tears coming back stronger than before. Thinking of that was poisonous, and he shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help it… He was weak, and he admitted it to himself repeatedly.

“Hey, hey, baby, it’s okay, you don’t have to apologize…” Shiro held Keith’s shaky hands and murmured words next to his ear, calming words. “Shh… It’s okay… I’m here… It’s okay, it’s okay…”

Simple sentences, relaxing whispers, and support. Shiro was giving Keith all the support in the world, and Keith wasn’t strong enough to take it.

  
  


Keith was fragile.

Shiro knew that better than anyone. Keith could break at a single touch, and he had to be taken care of. He needed someone to help him heal wounds that were too deep for him to deal with alone. He could deal with the cold, hard truth, he could face anything, but when he broke, he needed love and support, he needed soft, careful approaches and sweet, comforting words. As strong as he was, he was fragile.

Not just that, Keith also looked down on himself too much. He thought of himself as lesser than everyone, and Shiro knew that. He thought people lied when they told him he was very talented and good at what he did, he thought it was faux-praise said only to comfort him - he was never satisfied with what he did. He ignored all the undeniably good things about him and focused on the bad ones, acknowledging nothing but flaws and weaknesses.

Keith hadn’t been treated the best throughout his life, going around foster homes and orphanages, never being adopted because he was too ‘aggressive’ and ‘bratty’. Shiro had succeeded in making him open up a few times, he’d gotten to know a bit of the boy’s past, and he ached for him with every tale he told, all full of bad experiences. He deserved better, and even though he already had much better, it wasn’t enough. Shiro wanted to give him the world, give him all he had, all to make him feel happy, feel genuinely happy and good. He’d do all in his reach to see Keith’s genuine smiles and hear him legitimately laugh - laugh with all his breath, laugh until he cried - more often.

To get there, he had to let Keith cry. Saying “don’t cry” wasn’t fair, he had to let him cry, had to let him get it all out and go through bad times so that, when he finally reached true happiness and wellbeing, he could enjoy it at it’s full capacity. People who have never been down in the gutter can never fully enjoy happiness, so he let Keith weep. He held him tight while he did so, and told him that, no matter what, he’d still be there. He was going to be there through it all, he knew it, he felt it in him. He wouldn’t leave Keith without a big reason to. He couldn’t do that to him.

So when he heard Keith sniffing, he knew he was finished.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he whispered, softly.

“It’s not your fault, I’m--”

“It’s not your fault either, Keith. You’re not bad, you know? You’re not a bad person. You’re not weak. You’re actually really, really strong.” Keith was still and as silent as could be, soaking Shiro’s words as he spoke them. “I really admire you for that. You’ve been through more than I could actually imagine, and you’re still here. You’re anything but weak, Keith. And if I ever tried to tell you how much I love you, not just because of that, but _also_ because of that, I don’t think you’d believe me.”

Shiro felt it as Keith breathed in and out slowly, deeply. There were no tears left, though. If there were, they wouldn’t have stopped.

“I love you, Keith. I love you too much to be able to express it. It’s unreal, actually, I never thought I’d be able to feel so much for someone. But I feel it for you. So I want you to be safe, I want you to be happy, I want you to be far more than okay. After all you’ve been through, you deserve it more than anyone I know. Don’t doubt yourself, don’t belittle yourself, Keith. I can’t let you do so, for your own sake. I… I just love you, baby. I love you so, so much.”

Shiro hadn’t noticed his grasp growing gradually tighter around Keith, until he’d finished doing it and was nearly squeezing his boyfriend. Blushing, he relaxed his hold and removed his arms from where they were, freeing Keith from the almost deadly hug. Keith nestled himself closer to Shiro, though, pressing their bodies against each other completely. He threw his head back, to have it resting over Shiro’s shoulder, and Shiro looked down, meeting Keith’s swollen but happy eyes.

“Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“If I told you that my safest place is right here, in your embrace, would you believe me?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave kudos and comments if you liked this, and to make a tiny author very very happy~


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